Born in 1620

Jan 5

Miklós Zrínyi
a Croatian and Hungarian military leader, statesman and poet.
He was a member of the House of Zrinski , a Croatian-Hungarian noble family. He is the author of the first epic poem in Hungarian literature

Feb 1

Gustaf Bonde
a Swedish statesman.
He was a persistent advocate of a pacifist policy at a time when war on the slightest provocation was the watchword of every Swedish politician

Feb 15

François Charpentier
a French archaeologist and man of letters.

Feb 16

Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg
Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death.
A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess. Frederick William was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Westphalian political order of north-central Europe, setting Prussia up for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor

Mar 10

Johann Heinrich Hottinger
a Swiss philologist and theologian.

Apr 17

Marguerite Bourgeoys
the French foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal in the colony of New France, now part of Canada.
She lived in Fort Ville-Marie as of 1653, educating young girls, the poor, and natives until her death at the turn of the 18th century. She is also significant for developing one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic Church. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church

Apr 18

Winston Churchill (1620–1688)
an English soldier, historian, and politician.
He was the father of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, as well as an ancestor of his 20th-century namesake, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill

Apr 24

John Graunt
one of the first demographers, though by profession he was a haberdasher.

May 3

Bogusław Radziwiłł
a princely magnate and a member of the Polish-Lithuanian szlachta, or nobility.
He was of the Radziwiłł magnate family. By birth he was an Imperial Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. A descendant of the famous knight Zawisza Czarny

Jul 20

Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder
a Dutch classical scholar and poet, son of Daniel Heinsius.

Jul 21

Jean Picard
a French astronomer and priest born in La Flèche, where he studied at the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand.
He died in Paris, France. He was the first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy in a survey conducted in 1669–70, for which he is honored with a pyramid at Juvisy-sur-Orge. Guided by Maurolycus's methodology and Snellius's mathematics for doing so, Picard achieved this by measuring one degree of latitude along the Paris Meridian using triangulation along thirteen triangles stretching from Paris to the clocktower of Sourdon, near Amiens. His measurements produced a result of 110.46 km for one degree of latitude, which gives a corresponding terrestrial radius of 6328.9 The polar radius has now been measured at just over 6357 This was an error only 0.44% less than the modern value. This was another example of advances in astronomy and its tools making possible advances in cartography. Picard was the first to attach a telescope with crosswires to a quadrant, and one of the first to use a micrometer screw on his instruments. The quadrant he used to determine the size of the Earth had a radius of 38 inches and was graduated to quarter-minutes. The sextant he used to find the meridian had a radius of six feet, and was equipped with a micrometer to enable minute adjustments. These equipment improvements made the margin of error only ten seconds, as opposed to Tycho Brahe's four minutes of error. This made his measurements 24 times as accurate. Isaac Newton was to use this value in his theory of universal gravitation

Aug 26

Ernst Bogislaw von Croÿ
a Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin and official in the service of Brandenburg-Prussia.

Sep 4

Ernest Gottlieb Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau
a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Plötzkau.

Sep 6

Isabella Leonarda
an Italian composer from Novara.
At the age of 16, she entered the Collegio di Sant'Orsola, an Ursuline convent, where she stayed for the remainder of her life. Leonarda is most renowned for the numerous compositions that she created during her time at the convent, making her one of the most productive woman composers of her time

Sep 25

François Bernier
a French physician and traveller.
He was born at Joué-Etiau in Anjou. He was briefly personal physician to Prince Dara Shikoh, the elder son of Shah Jahan, and after Dara Shikoh's fall was attached to the court of the Emperor Aurangzeb for around 12 years during his stay in India

Oct 1

Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem
a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre pieces.

Oct 16

Pierre Puget
a French painter, sculptor, architect and engineer.

Oct 20

Aelbert Cuyp
one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century.
The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp , he is especially known for his large views of the Dutch countryside in early morning or late afternoon light

Oct 31

John Evelyn
an English writer, gardener and diarist.

Nov 10

Ninon de l'Enclos
a French author, courtesan, freethinker, and patron of the arts.

Nov 20

Avvakum
a Russian protopope of Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church.
His autobiography and letters to the tsar, to Boyarynya Morozova and other Old Believers are considered masterpieces of 17th-century Russian literature